Self-Publishing in the Era of Slopification

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By Glen C. Strathy

This year, I've returned to the practice of self-publishing books and have begun experimenting with various methods of book promotion, hoping to find ones that are enjoyable, affordable, and reasonably effective. It’s a tall order, but it has to be done.

At any rate, one method I thought might fall into the enjoyable category was having a booth at events like comi-cons. It’s not that I like face-to-face selling, but having been a genre fiction fan my whole life, I like talking to fellow fans. So I took the baby-step of renting space at some smaller events in my area. (Here’s a picture of what my booth looked like before the opening of one small event.)

The Decline of Reading?

So far, what I’ve learned is that events in smaller communities are not terribly profitable. The crowds are small, with few big spenders. Many attendees just want to get out of the house for a few hours and see something new (don’t we all from time to time?). Moreover, books are far from the hottest sellers at these events (from what I could tell, jewellery and swords -- either real or toy -- are the most popular items).

I had a number of attendees tell me flat out that they don’t read. Having been an avid devourer of books my whole life, I find that sad.

Not that there weren’t a few bright spots. I met one young man who was a big enough fan of The Wheel of Time series that he had its logo tattooed on his leg. With eighteen pretty thick books in that series, reading them all is a fair accomplishment at his age. I also met some older readers eager to pick up anything new in the science fiction genre.

Of course, writers have always complained that not enough people read anymore. Even in the nineteenth century, when public education rapidly expanded the reading public, there were probably writers moaning about how people wasted too much time playing sports or hanging out in bars and music halls when they could be spending their evenings expanding their minds with books.

The arrival of movies, television, and radio in the twentieth century gave people more entertainment options, but cheap paperback books, pulp magazines, and even comic books continued to boost the popularity of reading. Now of course we have electronic media like video games, the Internet, and social media that are cleverly designed to keep people engaged. Turning them off and picking up a book takes more determined effort than ever before.

The Problem of Slopification

At the same time, I come across a lot of book lovers complaining about “slopification” in publishing. By that, I mean the combination of a huge number of new titles being released (millions a year) and a general lowering of quality that is due to several trends:

1. Traditionally published fiction becoming more homogenized, with similar themes, messages, subject matter, and styles.

2. A huge number of self-published books, many of which do not meet traditional standards.

3. The use of artificial intelligence, whether to generate entire stories (by imitating and plagiarizing the works of human authors) or to massage manuscripts into a more generic style by rewriting text or offering editing advice. (No matter how AI is used, it results in books that are less original and less cohesive.)

With so many lower quality books flooding the market, and so much competition for one’s attention, what is a book lover or aspiring author to do?

Of these three trends, I am becoming more hopeful about the rise of self-published books, because it allows for more original creations and voices. A self-publishing writer who shuns AI has a much better chance of writing something original. Independent authors don’t have to deal with a publishing house afraid of taking risks or an AI that doesn’t know how to. They are free to write what they want, say what they want, and do something different.

Of course, some readers know what they like. Once they are hooked on a certain genre, category, or prose style they tend to stick with it. Never underestimate the value of escapism. If you know what kind of stories you like escaping into, why switch?

Other readers though are more easily bored and want books that challenge their expectations, offer a variety of emotional and intellectual experiences, or make them see life and the world in a new way.

As a reader, if you are noticing that books by major publishers are feeling too much the same, you can step into the world of self-published writers and find stories that haven’t been rendered generic by gatekeepers or statistical algorithms. You can find a greater variety of reading experiences -- books that offer you real originality, experimentation, and authors who aren’t afraid to be controversial or just different.

You will find a lot of books that disappoint as well. That has always been true. As Theodore Sturgeon once admitted, 99% of all books are crap. Maybe now, with so many titles being released, it’s 99.5%. Lots of self-published books might have benefited from better editing. But when you find a real gem, it can be lifechanging.

So what about the people who don’t read and prefer electronic entertainment? Well, there are some signs that slopification is taking place in those industries too. 

Self-Publishing: The Bastion of Originality?

Of the three trends, I have grown most hopeful about the rise of self-published books, because self-publishing encourages more original creations and voices. A self-publishing writer who shuns AI has a much better chance of writing something original. Independent authors don’t have to deal with a publishing house afraid of taking risks or an AI that doesn’t know how to. They are free to write what they want, say what they want, and do something different.

Of course, some readers know what they like. Once they are hooked on a certain genre, category, or prose style they tend to stick with it. Never underestimate the value of escapism. If you know what kind of stories you like escaping into, why switch? Other readers though are more easily bored and want books that challenge their expectations, offer a variety of emotional and intellectual experiences, or make them see life and the world in a new way.

As a reader, if you are noticing that books by major publishers are feeling too much the same, you can step into the world of self-published writers and find stories that haven’t been rendered generic by gatekeepers or statistical algorithms. You can find a greater variety of reading experiences -- books that offer you real originality, experimentation, and authors who aren’t afraid to be controversial or just different.

Of course, you will find a lot of books that disappoint as well. That has always been true. As Theodore Sturgeon once admitted, 99% of all books are crap. Maybe now, with so many titles being released, it’s 99.5%. Lots of self-published books might have benefited from better editing. But when you find a real gem, it can be lifechanging.

Of course, there is a fourth trend on must be on guard against...

Self-Publishers of AI Slop

There are two types of writers in my opinion. On the one hand are the ones who care most about their writing, for whom writing is a vocation that might, if they are lucky, eventually pay the bills. But they would still write even if it never becomes more than a hobby. They write the stories that call to them, regardless of their apparent commercial potential, and they are quite content to spend years polishing a manuscript. These writers often have very little interest in the business side of publishing. When they to self-publishing, it's because they haven't succeeded in landing a traditional publishing deal and they just want to put their work out into the world for people to see. 

On the other hand are the writers who see themselves more as entrepreneurs. Their primary concern is to make money. Publishing (or self-publishing) just happens to be their chosen industry. The best among these strive for a combination of quality writing and commercial success.

But then there are the people within the entrepreneurial crowd for whom it is most important to churn out books in quantity in order to ramp up sales. Rather than trying to create novels that are works of art and genius, they focus on producing "minimum viable products" -- books that are just good enough to trick readers into buying. If readers are disappointed in their books, they simply change their pseudonym and trick the readers into buying more of them. 

Such "self-publishers" are quite content to hire ghostwriters to write books for them or, far worse, use artificial intelligence to generate generic text that they can slap their name on and pretend they wrote. They are responsible for much of the self-published slop being released these days. Even more than the vanity presses of decades ago, publishers of AI slop (I resist calling them "writers") give self-publishing a bad name.

(HInt: one way to recognize slop publishers is the sheer volume of new titles they release. Most writers are doing very well if they can write a book a year. A small number in history have been able to write a book a month. More than that is not humanly possible and is a strong indicator of the use of AI.)

My fear is that the rise of low-quality fiction is going to shrink the reading public as people get tired of generic slop. But within that lies the solution...

Why I'm Growing More Optimistic About Self-Publishing

I have great faith in the human capacity to become bored. The more generic things become, the more dissastisfied people become with slop entertainment, the more they will start to look for something new and different. This is especially true of young people. As slopification destroys literature and other forms of entertainment, I expect it will lead to a rising thirst for something new and different. Three possibilities come to mind...

1. New types of entertainment may emerge. I don't know what they will be, but they will come.

2. People may turn to the past. They may consume more books, movies, music, etc. that were made before things became slopified.

3. Readers may turn more to works by independent creators who have resisted slopification, including writers who refuse to use AI and instead focus on developing a sophisticated and original voice. We’re not quite there yet. The public needs to get more fed up first. But I can see the potential.

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